It was an improper collection, the kind of thing that office exists to catch and stop.

And he stopped it.

He had the balance cleared out of the county system before he even hung up the phone.

Your house was never actually in danger from this.

And it certainly isn’t now.

You do not owe them one single dime, and you never did.” I had to put my hand back on the table to keep from sinking to the floor, because the relief was so total that my body did not quite know how to hold it.

And braided all through the relief was a fury I had not expected, a hot clean anger at the faceless billing company that had, through their improper pursuit of money they had no right to, set this entire nightmare in motion.